Evaluation of clinical course, histopathological and treatment characteristics of patients with Kaposi's sarcoma

Abstract

Background and Design: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is an angioproliferative disease of vascular endothelium associated with human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical course, histopathological and treatment characteristics in patients with KS. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 77 patients with KS who attended the Dermatology Outpatient Clinic in the İstanbul Training and Research Hospital between April 2008 and December 2016. The clinical course, histopathological and treatment characteristics were evaluated from the hospital records. Results: The mean age of the patients was 67.4±13.8 years. 67.5% of patients were male and 32.5% were female. Five patients (6.5%) had oral mucosal involvement. Human immunodeficiency virus positivity was detected in 4 patients (5.2%). HHV-8, CD-31 and CD-34 positivity were detected in 94.0%, 98.0% and 84.2% of patients, respectively. Three patients (3.9%) had secondary malignancy (1 patient had lymphoma, 1 had thyroid carcinoma and 1 had bladder carcinoma). The most commonly used treatments were cryotherapy (26.3%) as monotherapy, and excision and cryotherapy (14.8%) as combination therapy. Conclusion: Clinical and histopathological features are important in establishing the diagnosis of KS. In our study, the rate of unresponsiveness to treatment observed in follow-up was low and progression was rare. Screening and follow-up of the secondary malignancies that may accompany KS should be carried out with caution.